Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Welcome, Team Blue Car! The theme of this Read-a-Thon is the Game of Life! So let's get into our little car and start playing!



Each group will be asked a series of questions, which you will answer with the books you read. You can answer these questions using the title, cover, or plot of the book.

THE PROMPTS

Childhood
A book with a bright colored cover
A book with a child as a major character
A book whose title includes the letter A, B, and C
A book related to a fairy tale, myth or legend
A book featuring a game or sport
A book by a debut author
A book with a main page genre of Child or Children
A book by an author who was once a child (*wink wink*)

Adolescence
A coming of age book
A romance
A book featuring a group of friends
A book where someone leaves home
A book with scenes in a school or college
A book with a pink cover
A book by an author whose initials are found in HIGH SCHOOL
A book with a rebellion

Adulthood
A book set in a workplace
A book where someone gets married
A book where money is a concern
A book with a house on the cover
A book where a child is born
A book with a green cover
A book by an author who has written 5+ books
A book featuring a dinner party

Middle Age
A book where someone changes jobs
A book that includes family problems
A book featuring a professional (doctor, lawyer, scientist, etc.)
A book where a relationship ends
A book where a character achieves success
A book where a character travels
A book whose title starts with a letter in ADULT
A book with an orange or red cover

Older Age
A book featuring a character over 65 years old
A book where someone deals with a death
A book you have been wanting to read for a long time
A classic
A book with a gray or white cover
The most recent book an author has published
The first book a prolific author (10+ books) had published

*Note: Just because a prompt is under a specific stage of life does not mean the main character needs to be that age. For example, you can choose a book featuring elderly people leading a rebellion, or middle aged people falling in love


The Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Team Leaders: Erica and Sheena

Ira
Joyce
Kat
Trish
Nancy

Shotgun! I don’t want to drive :).

Anyway I’m looking forward to this RAT with you. I plan to do the raffle as well.

Here's the spreadsheet link without an image in the post:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Hi team. Lokking forward to reading with you.

Hi everyone, great to be in another readathon.

Erica wrote: "Shotgun! I don’t want to drive :)."

:-)

Morning, fellow blue cars

I'm staring out partway through three books, though I'm not sure if they'll all fit any of the prompts (although the Cult one features a character over 65!). I'll adapt accordingly.
Starting at:
Raven Black Page 37 of 384pg
The Cult of Trump Page 20 of 336pg
A Mind To Murder Page 52 of 221pg

Also in my list for this week, if I can find prompts for them:
Murder at Pope Investigations
Lost in the Moment and Found

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known
The Zig Zag Girl
The Black Echo
The Grand Banks Café

Hi,

I’m part way through The Fortnight in September which counts as a classic plus fits a few more places. I’m looking forward to getting out of the reading doldrums this week.

Ι'm halfway through The Hallmarked Man.I'm on hour 6 out of 31.I think it can fit a couple of prompts at first glance, but maybe more when I have actually read the book.It can fit:
The most recent book an author has published
A book by an author who has written 5+ books
I'm going to listen to many audiobook hours this weekend, because I have alot of housework to do, and I find it goes faster when I have something to listen to.

I read the last 169 pages of Love, Theoretically early this morning.
I have 4.5 hours left of Fix the System, Not the Women
I plan to read Bride and listen to The Return of Sherlock Holmes after. I think they all work for various prompts but I'll know more when I can see it on the spreadsheet.
Later in the week I can choose something based on what prompts need filling.

After a very early morning I’ve finished The Fortnight in September which really grew on me. Next up is Pretend I'm Dead but I’ll have to discover where it fits as I read.

Hi Team Blue Car. This is JennH from Team Green Car. We were linked to your spreadsheet and I thought just changing the names would be sufficient. When I realized my mistake, I undid everything. At least I tried my best to. So sorry!

Thanks for sorting it Jenn. I didn’t offer to team captain because I’m not good with a spreadsheet - I’ve entered the info for my first book but it looks wonky to me. 🧐

Joyce wrote: "Thanks for sorting it Jenn. I didn’t offer to team captain because I’m not good with a spreadsheet - I’ve entered the info for my first book but it looks wonky to me. 🧐"

Which bit looks wonky? I might be able to help. Also, can you pop your name at the top of your books?

JennH wrote: "Hi Team Blue Car. This is JennH from Team Green Car. We were linked to your spreadsheet and I thought just changing the names would be sufficient. When I realized my mistake, I undid everything. At..."

I'll let Pamela know - she set up the spreadsheets.

Joyce wrote: "Thanks for sorting it Jenn. I didn’t offer to team captain because I’m not good with a spreadsheet - I’ve entered the info for my first book but it looks wonky to me. 🧐"

haha, I'm not great at spreadsheets either. And I think it looks wonky to you bc you didn't enter your book title. Hope that helps.

Trish wrote: "JennH wrote: "Hi Team Blue Car. This is JennH from Team Green Car. We were linked to your spreadsheet and I thought just changing the names would be sufficient. When I realized my mistake, I undid ..."

Thanks, Trish. Pamela is working this morning, so we'll wait. Thanks again.

No worries.

Joyce and Kat. I see you've put in a couple of books to finish tasks. Don't forget to put the number of pages you read into the tracking sheet as well.

Hey team I’ll look at the spreadsheet later when I’m on my computer.

I’ve finished Pretend I'm Dead and entered it for dinner party. It’s a bit of a stretch but the MC makes an effort to have the neighbours in for dinner. My next book is Rory & Ita which may be a slower read.

Morning Team!! So sorry to be MIA yesterday, I kept checking Friday for teams and then got completely distracted and forgot till now .

Happy to be reading with everyone for this read-a-thon!!

Catching up with all precvious messasges, it looks like spreadsheet issues is sorted so I'll go add my numbers from yesterday :D

I've just finished with Lost in the Moment and Found. As the MC is five when it starts, and nine years old in the body of a sixteen year old at the end, I've put it in for A Child as a Major Character.

I finished Patina and used it for the sport prompt.
It also fits well for orange cover and main page child tag so we can move it later in the week if need be.

I was dreading filling the sport prompt, so cool.

any other prompts were collectively dreading? I finished my audio (will log with my laptop once I get to my desk) and am ready to pick my next book. I don't mind searching for a less popular prompt to get it crossed off early!

Not specifically from me, except that one - and that may just be because I really don't like sports books.

Some of the adult ones might be a bit tricky - like the wedding, or money or the child being born - unless you start off with a book that you know includes them.

I did wonder about Maid of Murder for the wedding one, although its a cozy mystery, and the bride-to-be is the victim, so the wedding doesn't quite happen. Marshmallow Malice may work, though.

Anyway, I just finished Mislaid in Parts Half-Known. I'm popping it in for A book featuring a group of friends at this point, although it can be moved later if needed.

I can cover any one of wedding, birth or money troubles with Rory & Ita. It’s Roddy Doyle’s biography of his parents. I’m finding it pretty dull so far but should finish today or early tomorrow.

I didn’t see any prompts that I want to avoid nor do I see any that look really hard to complete.

I've also finished Raven Black.

Given that it's been on the TBR since 2019, I've put it in for "A book you have been wanting to read for a long time" for now, as that didn't seem to have many takers.

Welcome Nancy! I’m just not going to be on my computer for a while to enter you in the spreadsheet.

@Erica, done :)

Welcome Nancy!!

Thanks Sheena :)

I’ve finished Rory & Ita though it didn’t improve. Now it’s Witch World and again I don’t know much though I think there may be a wedding.

Hi all, thanks for the welcome! I'll go add my books and pages now. Not sure I'll be able to add my pages from the weekend but I can do hours since I started and finished a book.

Would we consider a writer to be a professional?

I'm so happy I finally finished Julie Chan Is Dead. I've been struggling to read this because I needed it in order to achieve the goodreads debut bookmark. What a rollercoaster of a book!! I put it under the deals with death because death is so core to the book.

Hi team. I'm on the last hours of The Hallmarked Man. I should finish today in the evening or tomorrow morning. I haven't done a lot of physical reading since I have been focusing on listening to this 31 hour audiobook.

That's a long audiobook!!

I'm hoping to finish Flower Power Trip - read 208pg yesterday.

I've also moved Raven Black to "A book whose title includes the letters A, B, and C", as we didn't have many books to fit that on (I originally thought it was A, B or C, until I reread the prompt), whereas there were more for the "book you've wanted to read for a long time" prompt.

We also have three wild cards, by the look of it.

I’ve now finished Witch World and have entered it under wedding.

Next up I have Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency but I dont yet know where it fits. Family commitments mean I probably won’t have much reading time today.

I haven't been finding as much time to sit and read as I hoped but plugging away with audiobooks while doing all the mundane drudgery :D

I've just a couple hours left in Chalice of the Gods, which will fill the children's prompt and then I'll have a look at the sheet and pick something that fits the prompts we've got the fewest options on.

Today marks the halfway point of the read-a-thon and with 20 of 39 books read we're halfway through the prompt list.

Nice reading, Team Blue Car!!
:D

Go team!

I've managed to finish Flower Power Trip. As there isn't anything that really stands out from it for a prompt, I've gone with "An author who was once a child", so that's another one ticked off.

Rather than my original plans, I may go for either A Bird in the Hand or Maid of Murder next. They're the two currently in for "A book by a debut author".

They'd also fit "The first book a prolific author (10+ books) had published" (Ann Cleeves now has 102 books published and Amanda Flower has 61), depending on where Ira wants to put The Hallmarked Man - unless that should be down for "The most recent book an author has published", and the x is in the wrong place?

I've had a slower start to the week than I was expecting but should catch up soon.

Is this enough pink to count as a pink cover? It doesn't work for any other open prompts.

I think that's pink enough!

I unexpectedly finished Beautiful Ugly last night, couldn't put it down! I put it under an author with 5+ books.

Nancy wrote: "I think that's pink enough!

I unexpectedly finished Beautiful Ugly last night, couldn't put it down! I put it under an author with 5+ books."

That was a wild one! I can usually predict her books (having read all of them) but that one suprised me a few times. I still can't decide if that was a good thing or not?!?!

Yeah, I flew through it but I'm not sure if I liked it? (view spoiler)[The whole Abby/Kitty thing was confusing, and I would have liked to know the real Abby's side of things (the real Abby being Grady's wife) as opposed to Kitty's from decades ago). Grady being the one lying in the road in order to kill Abby made zero sense. I did figure out that there were only women on the island and have no idea how Grady missed that there were no other men. (hide spoiler)]

Made my way through Maid of Murder today, after finishing my previous book. I didn't enjoy it as much as other books I've read by the same author, but it was her debut book, so I've put it in for Debut Author, which finishes the last of the "Childhood" prompts.

Hi team. I finished listening to The Hallmarked Man. I put it under a book where money is a concern. One of the characters is trying to buy a house and her car broke down and she is worrying about money.

I made my way through A Bird in the Hand today - sadly it was a bit of a slog.

As it was the first book published by Ann Cleeves (of >100!), I've put it in for "The first book a prolific author (10+ books) had published"

Trish wrote: "I made my way through A Bird in the Hand today - sadly it was a bit of a slog.

As it was the first book published by Ann Cleeves (of >100!),

I thought this was going to be a very hard prompt to fulfil so that’s great. I predict we won’t need any wild cards to finish all the prompts once.

I’ve finished Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and I’ll put it in as achieving success as he saves the “human race from total extinction”. It could also work for a prominent professional.

Joyce wrote: "I thought this was going to be a very hard prompt to fulfil so that’s great. I predict we won’t need any wild cards to finish all the prompts once."

Good to get it out of the way.

I'm going to make a concerted effort to finish A Mind to Murder today. It's about a murder at a psychiatric clinic, so it should fit both the workplace and professionals prompt.

I’ve moved on to The Country House and am hedging my bets as it has a house on a green cover although my edition isn’t listed on Goodreads.